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TheLordis my shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of theLordfor ever. Psalm 23

The 23rd chapter of Psalm is one of the most quoted in the bible, most often at a funeral. But, have you really looked closely at it to see how it fits our everyday life?

The Lord is my shepherd and makes sure I have everything I need. Without Him I would be lost.

He give a me green pastures for which to graze and sleep. He provides still water for me to drink. In case you didn’t know lambs won’t drink from moving water.

He restores my soul: He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. He provides guidance in all circumstances, if we ask.

He offers me comfort and protection so that I have nothing to fear. He is always there to watch over me.

He stands with me in the presence of my enemies. He covers me with His love and blessings and my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy follows me everywhere and He has prepared a place for me in His house for me to live forever.

I recite this Psalm every morning for God is my guide and co-pilot in everything I do everyday of my life. He comforts me when I am down and raises my spirit with His continued blessings. Life is full of twists and turns, but He is always there to lead me down the right path.

Atmospheric Inversion

If you can smell smoke in the air on a cool morning, it is likely that there is a temperature inversion , which can occur when a layer of warmer air traps a cooler layer near the surface. During an inversion, there is a high probability of fog. Also sound travels farther and can be heard more loudly.

The above is from the lesson I taught on reading weather, below is a deeper explanation of what a Atmospheric Inversion is and how they occur.

Atmospheric inversions are horizontal layers of air that increase in temperature with height. Such warm, light air often lies over air that is cooler and heavier. As a result the air has a strong verticalstability, especially in the absence of strong winds.

Atmospheric inversions play an important role inair quality. They can trap air pollutants below or within them, causing high concentrations in a volume of air that would otherwise be able to dilute air pollutants throughout a large portion of the troposphere.

Atmospheric inversions are quite common, and there are several ways in which they are formed. Surface inversions can form during the evening when the radiatively cooling ground becomes a heat sink at the bottom of an air mass immediately above it. As a result heat flows down through the air which sets up a temperature gradient that coincides with an inversion.

Alternatively, relatively warm air may flow over a cold surface with the same results. Elevated atmospheric inversions can occur when vertical differences in wind direction allow warm air to set up over cold air. However, it is more common in near-subtropical latitudes, especially on the western sides of continents, to get subtropical subsidence inversions. Subtropical subsidence inversions often team with mountainous topography to trap air both horizontally and vertically.

Many people believe the days of miracles are long gone and that we never see any miracles today. I don’t know your feelings on this subject, but I do know I believe we see miracles everyday of our life and fail to recognize them.

Grandfather taught me as I grew up that we are led through life by an unseen guide, making turns and decisions based on a common goal. Everything has a reason and nothing is by mistake. There really is a plan for each and everyone of us.

I can’t really tell you when this finally hit home and I realized that everyone I met in life and everyone I touched in life blessed me and I them in one form or another. It was then when I learned that we are put on this earth for a very particular reason and everything we do is designed to complete the plan for our or someone else’s life.

God has planned every step of our life and, for me, when I realized this I stopped questioning His reasoning and started following the path He set forth for me. That little decision to follow His lead has turned into continuous blessings for my life. I wake up every morning eager to see what He has laid out for me this day and I am never disappointed.

I encourage everyone to open their eyes to His plan and learn to follow it without question. The enlightenment you receive will amaze you. Stop complaining about the rough times you are delt and make the best of every incident in your day. The resulting blessings will more than make up for a rough ride.

By now you are asking what this has to do with everyday miracles? We wake up to blue skies with birds, flowers and trees everyday, yet we don’t really notice them. We have the stars and a moon at night, but we just take them for granted. These are there, not because of something man did but because of the grace of God.

We witness the miracle of birth, the blooming of a flower, and even the magic effect of a simple smile, yet we don’t think we see miracles daily. Most people don’t realize the power of their smile, or the simple strength of a soft touch. We all are part of a miracle without even realizing it.

That smile you shared with a stranger while walking into the grocery may have turned around his or her day. That simple thank you that you shared with the checkout girl may have lifted her spirit. It is the little things we do everyday that changes someone’s world for them. You are someone’s miracle today and you just may be the recipient of someone’s gift tomorrow.

So the next time you feel you are going in different direction than you thought, take a few minutes to ask God what lesson He is sending to you. Step into that lesson and share the blessing He gives you with someone. It just may turn out to be the miracle they needed to continue on.

Over the years I’ve written several times on choices. I’ve received a few comments on the posts, though not as many as I had hoped, mainly centered on the premise this is all part of growing up and I guess it is.

However, I had hoped to open up your worlds to thinking before leaping, therefore preventing some disasters in the making. Too many mistakes are made because people shoot from the hip, without thinking, and end up in a fix they just can’t get themselves out of.

I wonder, is it fear of failure or fear of success? Life can throw us a curve ball once in a while. But, if life was designed to be easy, we would probably get bored. It’s the stumbling blocks that cross our paths that make for an interesting outlook on living. What most fail to realize is that it is what we do with these stumbling blocks that define us. Life is 10% chance and 90% learning to live with what we have been served. What we make of this will follow us for our entire life. The bright side of this is, that if we decide we don’t like the path we’re on we can always choose to go another direction. The most important thing to remember is we all have a purpose for being here and we need to find our purpose in life.

It could be something as simple as extending a helping hand to someone who has fallen, a smile to someone in need, a warm hello to a stranger. Or it could also be something as critical as being a surgeon or doctor saving someone’s life. The thing is we are all unique and each have something special to add to someone’s life and to the world.

Because of this it is important that we take the time to measure the pros and cons of the choice we are about to make. We only get one life so we should make the best of it.

Let’s consider something my Grandfather taught me as a youngster: “Make sure you engage your brain before you engage your mouth.” How many times have you let your mouth run away with you and have to eat your words later? How many people have you hurt because you didn’t think before mouthing off on someone or about something? A little forethought before spouting off could have saved you a lot of embarrassment.

Remember, not everyone believes as you do and everyone is entitled to his or her opinion and beliefs. What is right for you just may be wrong for the person you are talking to and vice versus. So use a little common sense and think before you jump on someone’s belief.

Our world and country is very diverse, made up of all kinds of people, churches and races. Each has their own way of doing things and no one can really say one is wrong or right, compared to how you do it. Try to understand it from the other person’s viewpoint and have compassion for their belief.

If we, as a people, would have a little compassion and love for how others think and live, our world may just be a little brighter.

As God has taught – Love your neighbor as yourself and as He has loved you. A little love and compassion goes a long way and a genuine smile will light up the world. Love never fails!

Today I am going to talk about Thunder and Lightning. Let’s start with This warning: When you hear thunder, there is lightning in the area. Thunderis the soundcausedby lightning. Depending on the distance and nature of the lightning,thundercan range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble. The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within a bolt of lightning.

People have been intrigued by lightning for as long as they have watched the skies. Although meteorologists understand the cloud conditions necessary to produce it, lightning cannot be forecasted. At any moment, there are as many as 1,800 thunderstorms in progress somewhere on Earth, and each is producing deadly lightning. Lightning detection systems in the U.S. see an average of 25 million strokes of lightning each year, from some 100 thousand storms. It is estimated that the Earth is struck by 100 lightning bolts every second.

The clouds at the high levels of the thunderstorm are made of ice crystals. The formation of ice in a cloud is an important element in the development of lightning. Those storms that fail to produce large numbers of ice crystals may also fail to produce a lot of lightning. Strong rising and sinking motions within the cloud are important too, as they enhance collisions among cloud particles causing a separation of electrical charges. Positively charged ice crystals rise to the top of the thunderstorm and negatively charged ice particles and hailstones drop to the middle and lower parts of the storm.

As the differences in charges continue to increase, positive charges rise up taller objects such as trees, houses, and telephone poles. The charge can also move up you, causing your hair to stand on end! This is natures way of warning you that lightning can strike near you very soon.

If the negatively charged area at the bottom of the storm gets large enough, sends out a channel toward the ground called astep leader. It is invisible to the human eye and moves in steps toward the ground. When the step leader nears the ground, or a target like a radio tower, it repels all the negatively charged in the surrounding area, and attracts all the positive charge. As the positive charges collect in high enough concentration, they send out small bolts of ground to air lightning called streamers. If the streamers can make contact with the step leader, an electric current wave propagates up the channel as a bright pulse — lightning!

And of course, with lightning comes thunder. Lightning heats the surrounding air to as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is five times the temperature of the surface of the sun! When air is heated, it expands, and this expansion is what’s causing the sound of thunder. The expansion is happening faster than the speed of sound, which creates a sonic boom.

Lightning usually claims only one or two victims at a time and usually does not cause the mass destruction left in the wake of tornadoes or hurricanes. Lightning generally receives less attention than any other weather hazard. This is a mistake as lightning is very deadly.

During a thunderstorm, each flash of cloud to ground lightning is a potential killer. However, lightning deaths can be prevented if people are aware of the dangers and seek shelter.

Lightning can strike as much as 10 miles away from the rain area in a thunderstorm. That is about the distance that you are able to hear the thunder from the storm. If you can hear the thunder from a storm, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Where organized sports activities are taking place, coaches, umpires, referees, or camp counselors must protect the safety of the participants and spectators by stopping the activities so that participants and spectators can get to a safe place before the lightning threat becomes significant.

Most lightning injuries and deaths can be prevented with advance planning and being aware of developing weather situations

A NOAA Weather Radio can help keep you informed with the latest thunderstorm information

Lightning Safety

Being outdoors is the most dangerous place to be during a lightning storm. The National Weather Service advises that when you hear thunder or see lightning to quickly move indoors or into a hard topped vehicle and remain there until well after the storm has passed.

Any location is dangerous durning a lightning storm, however, some areas are more dangerous than others. Some of the riskiest locations include:

Anywhere near the water:

Boating

Fishing

Swimming

Activities on the beach

Areas near tall trees (especially isolated trees):

Golf course

Picnic areas

Hiking trails

High terrains such as hill tops and ridges

High places such as house roofs during construction

Open areas like fields

Outdoor Safety Rules

Knowing outdoor safety rules can help save your life or that of loved ones.

If no enclosed building is available, get inside ahard-topped, all metalvehicle.

Get out of the water! Get off the beach and out of small boats and canoes. If caught in a boat, crouch down in the center of the boat away from metal hardware. Avoid standing in puddles of water, even if wearing rubber boots.

If you cannot reach shelter, avoid being the tallest object in the area.Do not take shelter under a tree.If you are in the woods, find shelter under the shortest trees.

If only isolated trees are nearby, crouch on the balls of your feet. A rule of thumb to follow is to stay twice as far away from a tree as it is tall.Don’t lie on the ground.

Avoid leaning against vehicles and get off bicycles and motorcycles.

Indoor Safety Rules

When lightning strikes a building, house or other structure, it follows metal conductors such as electrical wiring, plumbing, and telephone lines from the structure to the ground. When this process occurs, it usually leaves the inhabitants unharmed.

Once lightning enters the home it can surge through the electrical, phone, plumbing, and radio/television reception systems. It can also travel through any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring as well as windows and doors. It is important to avoid these conductors during an electrical storm.

Phone use is the leading cause of lightning injuries within the home. Lightning can travel long distances in both phone and electrical wiring, especially in rural areas where other conductors are limited.

Basementsshould be used with caution during lightning storms (unless there’s a tornado warning!) because they usually contain conductors. Avoid contact with washers and dryers since they not only have contacts with the plumbing and electrical systems, but also have an electrical path to the outside through the dryer vent. Concrete floors should also be avoided as they usually contain some form of reinforcement which can easily become electrified by a nearby lightning strike. Avoidbathing during a lightning storm as the household plumbing can carry a deadly current.

As you probably realize my grandfather was my Mentor and my person that I could turn to with any problem. There was nothing grandfather didn’t know anytime I asked him questions he had an exact answer. From the time I started walking and talking he was my person to turn to in time of need.

My hope and the reason I write this blog is to help others learn as I have about life, nature and God. It is my hope that I can act as a sort of Mentor to my readers and offer them a different path to follow. I look for comments and offer responses when I receive them.

As we all have learned life is not a bed of roses and can have it’s ups and downs. I want to share my life experiences as an example for others to see as a way to look at life a bit differently and as a path that they might want to try. I want to show life as nature has taught me and as something to be cherished.

Love of life and others is important to me and I hope to share this with others giving them examples of my life as I grew up so that they to can learn and grow. As Jesus has taught us to love.our neighbors as we love ourselves and as He has loved us, I hope to show how life is so much better with the love and blessings we share with each other.

For those new to my posts, my blog can be found at: efchristi.com

I use my life experiences with the hope of showing others a different path to make life fuller for them. I use my experience in nature with the plants and animals to show life in a different light. I try to show how God has given us so much in nature that we don’t see and how if we open our hearts to His love, our life becomes so much fuller.

I encourage questions and comments as they bring back memories of how grandfather used questions and comments to teach me about life.

Through him I received a very diverse education and am more than happy to share it with anyone who asks.

I have grown in nature, with the animals and look at life as a gift from God. My goal is to make the best of this gift, through Him, to help others make the best of theirs.

How many times, as you are about to take a wrong step, have you heard some small voice in your head saying don’t? We all have at one time or another stopped in our tracks because of some feeling that it would be better to go a different direction. That voice or feeling is God gently telling you to think about what you are about to do.

If you’ll be sensitive to the still, small voice, the promptings, the suggestions, the alarms, then God will save you from heartache and pain.

If we would just listen! There lies the problem, we are too tied to our own way of doing things and looking at our cell phones to hear that soft voice guiding our steps. We are human, we know what’s best for us and we don’t ask for help even though we knpw we need it. When it comes to being hard headed, we are at the top of the pack.

Do you ever notice the animals God has blessed us with? I ask this because they always seem to work so well together, helping each other is second nature to them and they just seem to know what to do at just the right time. Isn’t it something that animals and nature automatically help each other out while humans can’t seem to get it?

I used to be that hardheaded, but overtime have learned to ask for help and to trust that little voice in my head to lead down the right path. My heart aches, headaches and disappointments have all but gone away. Oh, every once in a while I still get overwhelmed and forget to listen to that little voice and have ended up with egg on my face.

If you’ll be sensitive to the still, small voice, the promptings, the suggestions, the alarms, then God will save you from heartache and pain.

Maybe if you see again it will serve as a reminder that it is ok to be wrong once in a while, but if we take the time to listen, maybe we will be happier and more settled. God is always communicating with is, we just need.to pay attention and listen. He won’t lead us down the wrong path.